Front Matter
How to use front matter for Jekyll pages, posts, and collections.
Table of Contents
Front Matter
Front matter is YAML metadata at the top of Markdown or HTML files that controls how Jekyll processes the content.
Basic Structure
---
title: "My Page Title"
layout: default
permalink: /my-page/
---
Your content starts here...
Required Fields
For All Pages
---
title: "Page Title" # Required: Displayed in browser tab and headings
layout: default # Required: Template to use from _layouts/
---
For Blog Posts
---
title: "Post Title"
layout: article
date: 2025-01-15 # Required for posts: Publication date
---
Common Optional Fields
SEO & Metadata
---
description: "A brief description for search engines (150-160 chars)"
author: "Your Name"
lastmod: 2026-06-14T00:00:00.000Z
keywords:
primary: ["keyword1", "keyword2"]
secondary: ["keyword3"]
---
Organization
---
categories:
- category1
- subcategory
tags:
- tag1
- tag2
- tag3
permalink: /custom-url/ # Override default URL
---
Display Options
---
preview: /images/previews/front-matter.png
toc: true # Show table of contents
comments: true # Enable comments (if configured)
sidebar:
nav: docs # Use 'docs' navigation in sidebar
---
Layout Options
Available layouts in Zer0-Mistakes:
| Layout | Purpose |
|---|---|
default |
Standard page with sidebar |
journals |
Blog posts with metadata display |
home |
Homepage layout |
collection |
Collection index pages |
landing |
Full-width landing pages |
Collection-Specific Fields
Documentation (_docs)
---
difficulty: beginner # beginner, intermediate, advanced
estimated_reading_time: "10 minutes"
prerequisites:
- Docker installed
- Basic Jekyll knowledge
lastmod: 2026-06-14T00:00:00.000Z
---
Blog Posts (_posts)
---
excerpt: "Custom excerpt for listings"
preview: /images/previews/front-matter.png
featured: true # Feature on homepage
---
Navigation Sidebar
Control which navigation appears in the sidebar:
---
sidebar:
nav: docs # Uses _data/navigation/docs.yml
---
Available navigation files:
main- Primary site navigationdocs- Documentation sidebarquickstart- Quick start guide
Examples
Complete Documentation Page
---
title: "Installation Guide"
description: "Step-by-step installation instructions"
layout: default
categories:
- docs
- setup
tags:
- installation
- docker
permalink: /docs/installation/
difficulty: beginner
estimated_reading_time: "10 minutes"
prerequisites:
- Docker Desktop
lastmod: 2026-06-14T00:00:00.000Z
sidebar:
nav: docs
---
Complete Blog Post
---
title: "Getting Started with Jekyll"
description: "Learn the basics of Jekyll static site generation"
layout: article
date: 2025-01-15
lastmod: 2026-06-14T00:00:00.000Z
author: "Amr"
categories:
- tutorials
- jekyll
tags:
- jekyll
- getting-started
preview: /images/previews/front-matter.png
comments: true
---
Related
See also
- [[Jekyll]]
- [[Liquid]]
- [[SEO]]
- [[Customization]]